Review: Sult

Sult by Martin Ernstsen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Quite good graphic adaptation of the famous Norwegian novel by Knut Hamsun about a poor writer who is struggling with hunger and depressive thoughts.

Review: Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West

Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West by Catherine Belton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A former FT journalist in Russia, Catherine Belton, has done a formidable research for this book. Many interviews and documents have been worked through to depict how Putin and his men from ex-KGB have created kleptocratic and revanchist state such as Russia has become in 2000s-2010s - at the same time, securing an improved way of living for its residents to a certain degree.

I found interesting historical accounts of how Putin and KGB worked in the DDR of 1980s, how they siphoned money out of the USSR to useful allies in the West to discredit the system in the West - and how this eventually has continued after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It was also interesting to read the details of how it happened that a previously rather unknown uncharismatic person has become one of the most powerful statemen of the world - and how the independent large business, juridical and political systems have all been gradually suppressed.

At times, the number of names and connections was difficult to follow. The book could have some registry of key people to refer to.

It also felt too ideological at times - written not by an impassionate historian, but by a person referring to countless of stories to prove one main point - that ex-KGB is ruling Russia and is dangerous for the West. This could have been mentioned fewer times.

Review: The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A one-time drummer for Nirvana (one of my favourite bands which was sort of formative to my teenage years) and a founder and the main figure behind Foo Fighters Dave Grohl tells stories from his life.

He starts with the description of his childhood and teenage years in suburbs of Virginia, near Washington - all via references his love for music. He then proceeds with how he has gotten in a punk rock band Scream and later to Nirvana. After the death of Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl eventually re-invents himself in a band established by himself and some companions, Foo Fighters.

I loved reading about Grohl's passion for music. This is the main theme which flows throughout the whole book. Starting from how he was "playing" melodies with his teeth, then using pillows in his bedroom instead of the drums - then diving into the world of rock and roll concerts, first as a spectator, then as musician on the scene.

I particularly liked the first half of the book, learning about what the life was like in Virginia in the 1970s-1980s, what it meant to be touring around in the USA, Europe and Australia as part of a band in a van on very meagre means, how was it to be part of Nirvana and sharing the flat with Kurt Cobain.

The stories of his later life were also fun to read, but were more sporadically structured and presented.

Overall, Dave Grohl seems like a nice guy, someone you would like to have among your friends - principled, passionate, but easy-going lad. The book reads exactly like that.

Review: To Sell is Human: the Surprising Truth About Moving Others

To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel H. Pink
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Although not as good book as Pink's classics "Drive", I still liked "To Sell is Human".

The first part about what sales was like before and what it means now was somewhat dubious, although I liked how Pink framed selling into "moving people" - this is something we all do.

But the subsequent parts were rather good. Like in "Drive", there are simple and short arguments supported by social studies and ample research. And I liked in particular various exercises to try and test various good practices. I have actually tested some of them on my team ("have a conversation with a time traveller" trying to explain a contemporary product to someone who lived few hundreds years ago; try one-word pitch, subject-line pitch or Pixar pitch) - it went really well.

Attune to your counterpart, try to really get into what they need.
Mimic strategically.
Don't be overly extraverted or introverted - being an ambivert is best.
Practice interrogative self-talk (Can I do it? Why?)
Be positive, but back up when needed.
Be clear.
Know how to pitch your idea - forget the elevator pitch, there are six innovative ways to structure your pitch.
Make your partner look good. Say "Yes and" (not an easy one in the real life!)
Most of all, make it purposeful.
Don't do upselling, do upserving instead.

I really liked the idea bout clarifying others’ motives with two “irrational” questions.

Suppose your daughter is delaying and denying, and generally resisting studying for a big end-of-the-year exam. You wouldn’t say, “Young lady, you must study,” or “Please, please study for the exam”. Instead, you could ask her two questions:
1. “On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 meaning ‘not the least bit ready’ and 10 meaning ‘totally ready’, how ready are you to study?”
After she offers her answer, ask
2. “Why didn’t you pick a lower number?”
This is an unexpected question, it is not a binary off-on, yes-no question. It can expose an apparent “No” as an actual “Maybe”. Even more important, as your daughter explains her reasons for being a 4 rather than a 3, she begins announcing her own reasons for studying. She moves from defending her current behaviour to articulating why, at some level, she wants to behave differently.

Review: A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories

A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories by Will Eisner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A depiction of the life in Bronx, a suburb of New York inhabited mainly by the families of recent immigrants (many of them Jews) during the 1930s.

These are four separate stories, all of them quite dark, but with philosophical context.

The book really pictures well dull life of poorish suburb of New York of the 1930s. The hopes, disappointments and personal tragedies of its characters were all vividly depicted.

I personally would have preferred one longer story with several characters involved. The visual art is interesting, but too exaggerating to my taste.

Review: Ultimate Guide to Google Ads

Ultimate Guide to Google Ads by Perry Marshall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A solid introduction to the world of Google Ads. I liked the general principle that the book was preaching - how not to give away too much money to Google. At the same time, when relevant, it encourages to use Google's machine learning when picking the bidding strategies for various keywords.

I also liked that some general principles of marketing were well introduced in the context of Google Ads. Be sure you know what is your business' USPs. Follow the 80/20 rules - also in Google Ads, 20% of the keywords bring you 80% of profit. Measure relentlessly - most don't do that, so you can have an edge there.

Some chapters were somewhat superficial, some included a lot of self-promotion by the authors.

Overall, can recommend the book.

Review: Täiesti tavaline merereis

Täiesti tavaline merereis by Meelis Kupits
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mõnus lihtne lugu ühest ENSV kalurikolhoosile kuulunud laevareisist 1970-ndatel. Koomiksi visuaal on tore ja kena - sobib nii täiskasvanutele kui vanematele lastele.

Õpib üht-teist ajaloo kohta: kuidas tollal kalapüük käis, kus täpsemini Nõukogude Liidu laevad käisid, kuidas detailselt kogu see (plaani)majandus toimis. Hariv ja tore lugemine ning pildiline materjal!

Review: Radical Candor

Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Malone Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kim Scott has worked at Google and Apple. The book is the collection of her experiences from there as well as her management beliefs packaged into an advice for managers.

At times, overly simplistic (yes, you need to provide feedback and encourage receiving it; yes, you need to organise and lead well-planned meetings) and repetitive, it nevertheless is a rather good management book in my view. Some of the lessons I take from it:

Radical candor: provide direct feedback and care personally thereby. You need both. Providing feedback without caring is obnoxious. Caring and never challenging directly is ruinous empathy.

How to fire people so that it is right for you, for the person in question and for the others? "When you fire someone, you create the possibility for the person to excel and find happiness performing meaningful work elsewhere. Part of getting a good job is leaving a bad one, or one that’s bad for you." and "Retaining people who are doing bad work penalizes the people doing excellent work. Failing to deal with a performance issue is not fair to the rest of the team."

Driving results collaboratively by "Get Stuff Done" wheel: Listen-Clarify-Debate-Decide-Persuade-Implement-Learn-Listen. Every step needs to be taken separately to ensure the best results.

"Loud listening": the best type of listening and debating culture in organisation is “strong opinions, weakly held”.

A distinction between "Big Debate" and "Big Decision" meetings: sometimes it is useful to have both kinds, separately, in that order.

Managing decision-making: "Don’t grab a decision just because the debate has gotten painful. A boss’s job is often to keep the debate going rather than to resolve it with a decision."

The right way to provide feedback is using technique “situation behavior impact”: 1) the situation you saw, 2) the behaviour (i.e. what the person did, either good or bad), 3) the impact you observed. This helps avoid making judgements about the person's intelligence, common sense, innate goodness, or other personal attributes.

Another useful tip on providing feedback: "Don’t “save up” guidance for 1:1 or a performance review."

Planned think time: "In addition to regularly planned meetings, people are going to want to talk to you about this or that; urgent matters will arise that you must deal with. You need time to clarify your own thinking, or to help the people who work for you clarify theirs. You should not be tyrannised by your calendar."

Review: The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984

The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984 by Riad Sattouf
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A graphic novel by a famous French cartoonist of French-Syrian descent. It is a graphical memoir of his early life in Gaddafi's Libya, then France, then older Assad's Syria. Presented through the eyes of a young child, it catches interesting details of everyday life and sheds the light on cruel and bizarre world of Arab dictatorships of the 1970s-1980s.

Beautiful cartoon art, captivating story, funny and terrifying moments to follow.

Review: Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers

Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Gordon Neufeld
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked the basic premise of this book: don't leave your kids to mostly socialise with their friends (although it might be tempting for hard-working and tired parents).

The book looks at the parent-child relationship through the lens of the theory of attachment: in order to grow up as self-esteemed and independent individuals, children need safety and predictability provided by the important adults in their lives. Although it might be fun to occasionally be with the friends, the relationships with them are always contingent on pleasing each other, always demanding. Two or more immature individuals cannot give unconditional acceptance to each other.

It was revealing to read this:

"True friendship is not possible until a certain level of maturity has been realised. Until children are capable of true friendship, they really do not need friends, just attachments."

.
The book has several flaws: authors are repeating the same points over and over again, are being constantly nostalgic for "good old days when kids obeyed to their parents" and are trying to persuade via fears of children's violence, disobedience etc.

Nevertheless, it is a very good reminder to parents that we need to preserve our ties to our children and don't easily let them go to our smaller "competitors" as authors put it.

I also found useful the tips from the chapter on discipline:
- Use connection, not separation (such as time-outs), to bring a child into line
- When problems occur, work the relationship, not the incident (“This is not good. We’ll talk about this later.”)
- When things aren’t working for the child, draw out the tears instead of trying to teach a lesson (“I cannot let you do that,” “I know you really wanted this to happen.”)
- Solicit good intentions instead of demanding good behaviour (“I know it isn’t what you wanted to happen.")
- Draw out the mixed feelings instead of trying to stop impulsive behaviour (“We are having such a good time together right now. I remember this morning when you weren’t too happy with me.”)
- When dealing with an impulsive child, try scripting the desired behaviour instead of demanding maturity (“This is the time to use your quiet voice.”)

Review: No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram

No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram by Sarah Frier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"No Filter" is a great dive into the history of Instagram - from how its co-founders Systrom and Krieger started it to how it has evolved into one of the most ubiquitous social networks in the world and how it has been embraced into the social network empire of Facebook.

The book is very well researched, involves the good deal of drama and is a very smooth read.

I loved how the author presented the major dilemmas that Instagram has been part of. Celebration of beauty around us and useful tips and recommendations, yes. The culture of bending the reality and searching for anything "instragrammable too. Instead of reflecting the reality, the reality has started to reflect what was on Instagram (e.g. "popular" food recipes, travel destinations, body shapes).

It was insightful to read how the management of Instagram - and then also Facebook/Meta - has responded to those challenges (and many others too like trolling, cybercrimes, disinformation campaigns) at various points of time.

It is fascinating to think what will Instagram be like in 10 year from now. Will we even have one then?

Review: Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead

Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead by Laszlo Bock
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Work Rules!" was written by a former HR manager of Google. It is an excellent overview of how HR management including recruitment, performance review and learning are organised at Google.

There are many lessons to draw from Google. An engineer-dominated company as it is, Google makes most of the decisions based on data. This is something I could relate to a lot: "Don’t trust your gut. Don’t base your judgement on the first minutes of the interview." Instead, using work samples, tests of general cognitive ability, structured interviews.

I also found insightful examples of how to empower people to shape their work and the company. At Google, they run “quick hit” programmes periodically, focused on more targeted issues. For example:
• “Bureaucracy Busters”: asking people about all the annoying little impediments that make life exasperating.
• “The Waste Fix-It”: asking about practices that waste money.

OKR-s is a well-known practice. The book describes it in a detailed manner - how OKR-s of each individual are interconnected.

One very good lesson - instead of extensive 360 feedback sessions...

.Make the peer feedback templates more specific: instead of asking about several things the person does well / can do better, ask for one single thing the person should do more of, and one thing they could do differently to have more impact. If people had just one thing to focus on, they’d be more likely to achieve genuine change than if they divided their efforts.

"Pay unfairly" is another principle I very much agree with. Individual performance follows a power law distribution - the best people's performance is many times higher than average. Why not pay many times more then?

Glad that we implement many of these practices in our company.

Some of the chapters were not very insightful and did not feel that objective, written by one of the top managers of the company. Overall, however, it was great to learn from the example of the outstanding organisational culture.

Review: High Output Management

High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first edition of this management book was written in 1983, when one of the most successful tech companies in the West was Intel. Its long-term serving CEO Andrew Grove gave some rather timeless management lessons (some other might be dated though).

"In principle, more money, more manpower, or more capital can always be made available, but our own time is the one absolutely finite resource we each have. How you handle your own time is the single most important aspect of being a role model and leader."

One of the most important jobs of a manager is to increase own leverage: by well-prepared and powerful conversations with key people, by well-organised meetings, by giving unique relevant trainings.

Grove dedicates considerable attention to how to run the meetings, because:

"Most expenditures of such cost have to be approved in advance by senior people – yet a manager can call a meeting and commit thousand of dollars worth of managerial resources at a whim. So, even if you’re just an invited participant, you should ask yourself if the meeting – and your attendance – is desirable and justified."

Send agenda beforehand. Dedicate time for "open session". Control the pace of the meeting. Send out minutes and the decisions made. And then:

"A meeting called to make a specific decision is hard to keep moving if more than six or seven people attend. Eight people should be the absolute cutoff. Decision-making is not a spectator sport, because onlookers get in the way of what needs to be done."

Grove also describes the algorithm of an effective decision-making process:
1. Free discussion.
2. Reaching a clear decision.
3. Everyone involved must give the decision reached by the group full support.

When planning, take into account that:

"By saying “yes” – to projects, a course of action, or whatever – you are implicitly saying “no” to something else. People who plan have to have the guts, honesty, and discipline to drop projects as well as initiate them."

There are many more lessons. Many of them seem non-brainers - however, also 40 years after this book is written, I see how large effect these can have in managerial context if followed consequently.

Review: Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It was quite an enjoyable read. First, it was easy to grasp. Second, it is very useful for virtually anyone.

I have learnt over several decades of my life that, in most of the cases, key to success is not being lucky, talented or having the right origin (although it all helps). It is mostly about discipline. It is about establishing good and virtuous habits - and sticking to them.

This is precisely what James Clear is preaching - and providing many good tips on how to do it.

"Improving by 1% isn’t particularly notable – sometimes it isn’t even noticeable – but it can be very meaningful, especially in the long run. It’s about math: if you can get 1% better each day for one year, you’ll end up 37 times better by the time you’re done."

"Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress."

"Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."

Habit stacking is one of the best ways to build a new habit:
“After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].” For example: "After I pour my cup of coffee each morning, I will meditate for one minute."

Importance of the physical environment as well as other people is discussed in great details in the book. It's easier to create new habits in the new environment.

The habit line:

"Instead of asking “How long does it take to build a new habit?” we need to ask “How many does it take to build a new habit?”. That is, how many repetitions are required to make a habit automatic?"

The power of decisive moments:

"Every day, there are a handful of moments that deliver an outsized impact – decisive moments. The moment you choose between driving your car or riding your bike. The moment you decide between starting your homework or grabbing the video controller. These choices are a fork in the road."

Two-Minute Rule:

“When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.”:
• “Read before bed each night” becomes “Read one page”
• “Do 30 minutes of yoga” becomes “Take out my yoga mat”

The Goldilocks Rule's effect:

"The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom. We get bored with habits because they stop delighting us. The outcome becomes expected. And as our habits become ordinary, we start derailing our progress to seek novelty. Perhaps this is why we get caught up in a never-ending cycle, jumping from one workout to the next, one diet to the next, one business idea to the next."

And once again - the biggest take-away of the book - and something I can really relate to a lot:

"The holy grail of habit change is not a single 1 percent improvement, but a thousand of them. It’s a bunch of atomic habits stacking up, each one a fundamental unit of the overall system."

Review: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a truly The Big Picture Book. It takes seemingly impossible task - to cover all the major events of the humankind in 500 pages. And it does it surprisingly well - focusing on what has mattered most to humans and the planet, with the good dose of humour and controversy.

Harari makes some unexpected arguments that really make you think and consider history and present. What a sheer intelligence!

He starts with how humans became so special compared to other animals and how big of a role domestication of fire has played in it. Then came the collective myths and collective imagination which later gave birth to larger communities, trade, states, even empires.

A very intriguing is Harari's argument that the varied life of hunters-gatherers was not necessarily all that bad compared to the miserable and dull life of "most of the peasant, shepherds, labourers and office clerks who followed in their footsteps". He argues that it is not humans who domesticated wheat. It really domesticated us - meaning that humans have done all they could to make wheat (or other selected types of plants we use for food) survive and thrive.

Another interesting and sad paradox:

"Domesticated chickens and cattle may well be an evolutionary success story, but they are also among the most miserable creatures that every lived. The domestication of animals was founded on a series of brutal practices that only became crueller."

Harari then breaks the process of internationalisation and globalisation into three elements behind it: trade and capitalism, empires and universal religions. He describes the role all three have played in unification of the humankind, with both good and bad sides related to it.

Scientific Revolution is given a separate large role in the book:

"The Scientific Revolution has not been a revolution of knowledge. It has been above all a revolution of ignorance: the discovery that humans do not know the answers to their most important questions."

Science has fuelled both trade and empires - and vice versa. It both has given humankind countless technological, geographical and biological discoveries, but also massive slave trade between Europe, Africa and America and breakdown of the role of traditional families and communities.

Good writing, good examples, intelligent humour, well-weighted arguments - it was an enjoyable reading I can recommend to anyone.

Review: This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race

This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The long-term cybersecurity journalist from the New York Times writes her account of how the area of cyberespionage and cyberwar has evolved in the recent decades.

It really sheds the lights on how state and state-affiliated actors exploit vulnerabilities (so-called zero-days) in software to spy and inflict damages on those they don't like. Something previously unknown to me was the detailed description of how the global market for vulnerabilities works - where hackers can sell their hacks to someone who wants to exploit them before anyone else gets to know (and is able to patch the problems). A software vulnerability can cost thousands dollars if it is a buggy and not very significant software - or tens of millions dollars if it is a closed and well-guarded environment such as Apple.

The story of NSA and revelations by Snowden are also well described. The main problem with NSA is arguably that it found and bought vulnerabilities in software used by millions across the globe - without saying anything to its vendors such as Microsoft, Oracle, Google and others (in order to preserve its advantage towards foes). However, not-so-nice state actors have eventually learnt about these vulnerabilities too - and have inflicted damages on many businesses and have stolen national secrets around many places.

The inner world of cybersecurity specialists and hackers is interestingly depicted - how has the industry come to be and how has it developed.

As for the disadvantages of the book, there are unfortunately several of them. For the first, I would have liked to read somewhat more technical accounts of how the things have worked (and have been broken) in cybersecurity domain - instead of the author's numerous personal stories of her mingling with hackers. The book is often bogged down in the U.S politics and administrative relations and is somewhat too long. Alarmist repetitions about the nuclear plants and hospitals being wired to the World Wide Web get annoying when reading them every 50th page or so.

Still, it is an eye-opening insight depicting the global cyberthreats and cyberbattles of 2000s-2020s.

Review: Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have heard about the Opioid Crisis in USA, but have never known the actual roots and consequences.

This book, based on excellent investigative journalism, covers the story of Sacklers, the family which started their business in selling prescription drugs back in the 1930s. The first generation of Sacklers benefitted a lot thanks to smart selling tactics of anti-depressants. The second and the third generation of Sacklers benefitted even more by selling painkillers based on opioids via their main company Purdue Pharma (which was selling the best-selling drug OxyContin). The opioids are the medications prescribed by doctors to treat pain. They have essentially similar effects as morphine or heroine. They have proven to be highly addictive.

Investigations by Keefe revealed how ingeniously intertwined were Sacklers' efforts to both educate doctors and market to doctors. They have used aggressive sales tactics towards doctors, while at the same time sponsoring conferences, medical journals and retreats for medical community. They have managed to get officials from drug administration on their side too.

And, along the way, Sacklers were carefully developing their image as generous philanthropists of arts and education (preferring never to speak where the wealth has come from). They made many galleries and institutes were called after Sacklers.

It is a story of the worst of capitalism, unchecked, unlimited. You can essentially bribe doctors who get paid more when selling more medications to a population which spends more if they get addicted more. It is a visualisation of why healthcare as total in USA costs way more per capita than in any other developed country of the world.

Review: Эшелон на Самарканд

Эшелон на Самарканд by Guzel Yakhina
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Очень сильная книга. Это повесть о начале 1920-х, массовом голоде на Поволжье и множестве детей, которые гибли из-за этого. Это повесть о результатах кровопролитной войны (гражданская война в России), о том, то делает с людьит голод, но также о человеческой доброте, целеустремлённости и детском доверии и непосредственности.

Хорошо суммирует посыл книги цитата доктора-фельдшера Буга: "Неправильная она, твоя доброта, внучек. Шиворот-навыворот." Это о людях, которые помогали эшелону поезда из Казани в Самарканд, везшему детей, оставшихся без родителей. Эти же помощники - чекисты, белые казаки, разкулачивающие коммунисты - до этого воевали, грабили, убивали. Доброта на фоне зла. Надежда на фоне потерянности.

Запала в душу трагичная история Загрейки, ребенка, который обрёл "брата" и слепо следует ему везде и всегда - даже когда "брат" уже не в своём уме.

Review: No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am always fascinated by the stories behind a success. Yes, there is often luck involved - which successful entrepreneurs and leaders tend not to mention. But there is certainly something to learn from the company which revolutionised the way we watch films and series - globally.

This book reveals some "secrets" of the way Netflix is run. Some of them are rather obvious: hire talented people and pay them well, encourage a lot of (actionable) feedback and be transparent. Some other methods are more intriguing. For example, encouraging yous employees listen to recruiters and ask what salary can be provided - and then match it to make sure your employee doesn't leave because of money. Or so-called live 360 sessions - where all members of the team are openly giving feedback to each other during a 3-5 hour session.

A lot of learnings from the book are not new. Many of them (being transparent towards employees, nurturing your talent, culture of learning from mistakes) are actively practiced (especially in a tech sector). It was still interesting to read how systematic Netflix seems to be regarding these principles. For example, their official feedback guidelines:
#1 give feedback with positive intent
#2 give actionable feedback
#3 appreciate feedback
#4 accept or disregard feedback.

And there is this oh-so-hard-management-truth that one needs to remind oneself time-to-time:

“If a person on your team were to quit tomorrow, would you try to change their mind? Or would you accept their resignation, perhaps with a little relief? If the latter, you should give them a severance package now, and look for a star, someone you would fight to keep.”

The book is well structured and easy to read. Good anecdotical stories to support.

Review: The Value of Everything

The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy by Mariana Mazzucato
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What is value? What is valued? What is more valuable than something else?

Is it as simple as value = price that market pays for it?

The book takes a provocative stand against the way the value of goods, services, GDP etc is calculated.
For example, a resource that is destroyed by pollution may not be counted as a subtraction from GDP – but when pollution is cleaned up by marketed services, GDP increases. An obvious paradox it is.

One notorious example of where creating and extracting value has been mixed up in the recent decades, according to Mazzucato, is financial sector. If before it was mainly about financing 'real' economy, then most of finance today is about trading between various financial institutions.

"Finance is valuable simply because it is valued, not because it creates that much value."

One of the main arguments of the book is that much of valuable investment that fosters society is done by public / government (schools, universities, basic science, roads, radical innovation such as Internet) - but its role is routinely seen as mostly a 'regulator' that should not intervene in an otherwise free-standing market economy.

Although well researched and making one to think critically, the book does not really offer a solution of how to measure real value of anything - what shall and what shall not be considered when saying that something is of value X and not Y. It is also somewhat idealistic about the value-creating nature of the state. In many cases having government investing into common good is indeed desirable - yet in many other (more?) cases around the world it tends to lead to cronyism, corruption and nepotism.